BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair A
2013-2014 Regular Session B
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AB 1432 (Gatto) 2
As Amended May 23, 2014
Hearing date: June 24, 2014
Education and Penal Codes
AA:sl
MANDATORY CHILD ABUSE REPORTING:
SCHOOL EMPLOYEES
HISTORY
Source: Author
Prior Legislation: None
Support: As noted in Senate Education Committee June 17th
analysis: California Catholic Conference, Inc.; California
Federation of Teachers; California Police Chiefs Association;
California School Employees Association; California State PTA;
California Teachers Association; Child Abuse Listening,
Interviewing & Coordination Center; Child Abuse
Prevention Center; Crime Victims United of California;
EdVoice; Hillsides; Keenan & Associates; Los Angeles County
Office of
Education; Los Angeles Unified School District; National
Association of Social Workers; Northern California Regional
Liability Excess Fund; Schools Association For Excess Risk
JPA; Southern California Regional Liability Excess Fund;
Statewide Association of Community Colleges; Superintendent of
Public Instruction; StudentsFirst; United Teachers Los Angeles
Opposition:None known
Assembly Floor Vote: Ayes 66 - Noes 5
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KEY ISSUE
SHOULD SCHOOLS BE REQUIRED TO ANNUALLY TRAIN THEIR EMPLOYEES AND
OTHERS WORKING ON THEIR BEHALF WHO ARE MANDATED CHILD ABUSE AND
NEGLECT REPORTERS IN THEIR DUTIES AS MANDATED REPORTERS?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to require school districts, county
offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic
centers operated by the State Department of Education, and
charter schools to annually train their employees and persons
working on their behalf who are mandated child abuse and neglect
reporters in the duties of mandated reporters under the child
abuse reporting laws, as specified.
Current law establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting
Act ("CANRA"), which generally is intended to protect children
from abuse and neglect. (Penal Code § 11164.)
Current law requires mandated reporters to make reports of
suspected child abuse or neglect, as specified. (Penal Code §
11165.9.)
Current law enumerates 44 categories of mandatory child abuse
reporters. (Penal Code § 11165.7.)
Current law provides that "(e)mployers are strongly encouraged
to provide their employees who are mandated reporters with
training in the duties imposed by this article. This training
shall include training in child abuse and neglect identification
and training in child abuse and neglect reporting. Whether or
not employers provide their employees with training in child
abuse and neglect identification and reporting, the employers
shall provide their employees who are mandated reporters with
the statement required pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section
11166.5." (Penal Code § 11165.7(c).)
Current law further provides that "(s)chool districts that do
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not train their employees (who are mandated reporters) in the
duties of mandated reporters under the child abuse reporting
laws shall report to the State Department of Education the
reasons why this training is not provided." (Penal Code §
11165.7(d).)
This bill would instead require "school districts, county
offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic
centers operated by the State Department of Education, and
charter schools (to) annually train their employees and persons
working on their behalf (who are mandated reporters) in the
duties of mandated reporters under the child abuse reporting
laws. The training shall include, but not necessarily be limited
to, training in child abuse and neglect identification and child
abuse and neglect reporting."
This bill would require that this training be pursuant to the
following provisions.
This bill would require the State Department of Education, in
consultation with the Office of Child Abuse Prevention in the
State Department of Social Services, to do all of the following:
(1) Develop and disseminate information to all school
districts, county offices of education, state special
schools and diagnostic centers operated by the department,
and charter schools, and their school personnel in
California, regarding the detection and reporting of child
abuse.
(2) Provide statewide guidelines on the responsibilities of
mandated reporters in accordance with the Child Abuse and
Neglect Reporting Act, as specified, and require that these
guidelines include, but not necessarily be limited to, both
of the following:
(A) Identification of child abuse and neglect.
(B) Reporting requirements for child abuse and
neglect.
(3) Develop appropriate means of instructing school
personnel in the detection of child abuse and neglect and
the proper action that school personnel should take in
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suspected cases of child abuse and neglect, including, but
not limited to, an online training module.
This bill would require school districts, county offices of
education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated
by the Department of Education, and charter schools to do both
of the following:
(1) Except as provided below, provide annual training,
using the online training module provided by the
department, to their employees and persons working on
their behalf who are mandated reporters, as specified, on
the mandated reporting requirements. Mandated reporter
training shall be provided to school personnel hired
during the course of the school year. This training shall
include information that failure to report an incident of
known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect is a
misdemeanor, as specified.
(2) Develop a process for all persons required to
receive training pursuant to this section to provide
proof of completing the training within the first six
weeks of each school year or within the first six weeks
of that person's employment. The process developed under
this paragraph may include, but not necessarily be
limited to, the use of a sign-in sheet or the submission
of a certificate of completion to the applicable
governing board or body of the school district, county
office of education, state special school and diagnostic
center, or charter school.
This bill would provide that school districts, county offices of
education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated
by the Department of Education, and charter schools that do not
use the online training module provided by the department shall
report to the department the training being used in its place.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's
prisons has been the focus of evolving and expensive litigation
relating to conditions of confinement. On May 23, 2011, the
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United States Supreme Court ordered California to reduce its
prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity within two
years from the date of its ruling, subject to the right of the
state to seek modifications in appropriate circumstances.
Beginning in early 2007, Senate leadership initiated a policy to
hold legislative proposals which could further aggravate the
prison overcrowding crisis through new or expanded felony
prosecutions. Under the resulting policy, known as "ROCA"
(which stands for "Receivership/ Overcrowding Crisis
Aggravation"), the Committee held measures that created a new
felony, expanded the scope or penalty of an existing felony, or
otherwise increased the application of a felony in a manner
which could exacerbate the prison overcrowding crisis. Under
these principles, ROCA was applied as a content-neutral,
provisional measure necessary to ensure that the Legislature did
not erode progress towards reducing prison overcrowding by
passing legislation, which would increase the prison population.
In January of 2013, just over a year after the enactment of the
historic Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011, the State of
California filed court documents seeking to vacate or modify the
federal court order requiring the state to reduce its prison
population to 137.5 percent of design capacity. The State
submitted that the, ". . . population in the State's 33 prisons
has been reduced by over 24,000 inmates since October 2011 when
public safety realignment went into effect, by more than 36,000
inmates compared to the 2008 population . . . , and by nearly
42,000 inmates since 2006 . . . ." Plaintiffs opposed the
state's motion, arguing that, "California prisons, which
currently average 150% of capacity, and reach as high as 185% of
capacity at one prison, continue to deliver health care that is
constitutionally deficient." In an order dated January 29,
2013, the federal court granted the state a six-month extension
to achieve the 137.5 % inmate population cap by December 31,
2013.
The Three-Judge Court then ordered, on April 11, 2013, the state
of California to "immediately take all steps necessary to comply
with this Court's . . . Order . . . requiring defendants to
reduce overall prison population to 137.5% design capacity by
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December 31, 2013." On September 16, 2013, the State asked the
Court to extend that deadline to December 31, 2016. In
response, the Court extended the deadline first to January 27,
2014 and then February 24, 2014, and ordered the parties to
enter into a meet-and-confer process to "explore how defendants
can comply with this Court's June 20, 2013 Order, including
means and dates by which such compliance can be expedited or
accomplished and how this Court can ensure a durable solution to
the prison crowding problem."
The parties were not able to reach an agreement during the
meet-and-confer process. As a result, the Court ordered
briefing on the State's requested extension and, on February 10,
2014, issued an order extending the deadline to reduce the
in-state adult institution population to 137.5% design capacity
to February 28, 2016. The order requires the state to meet the
following interim and final population reduction benchmarks:
143% of design bed capacity by June 30, 2014;
141.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2015; and,
137.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2016.
If a benchmark is missed the Compliance Officer (a position
created by the February 10, 2016 order) can order the release of
inmates to bring the State into compliance with that benchmark.
In a status report to the Court dated May 15, 2014, the state
reported that as of May 14, 2014, 116,428 inmates were housed in
the State's 34 adult institutions, which amounts to 140.8% of
design bed capacity, and 8,650 inmates were housed in
out-of-state facilities.
The ongoing prison overcrowding litigation indicates that prison
capacity and related issues concerning conditions of confinement
remain unresolved. While real gains in reducing the prison
population have been made, even greater reductions may be
required to meet the orders of the federal court. Therefore,
the Committee's consideration of ROCA bills -bills that may
impact the prison population - will be informed by the following
questions:
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Whether a measure erodes realignment and impacts the
prison population;
Whether a measure addresses a crime which is directly
dangerous to the physical safety of others for which there
is no other reasonably appropriate sanction;
Whether a bill corrects a constitutional infirmity or
legislative drafting error;
Whether a measure proposes penalties which are
proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other
reasonably appropriate remedy; and,
Whether a bill addresses a major area of public safety
or criminal activity for which there is no other
reasonable, appropriate remedy.
COMMENTS
1. Double-Referral from Senate Education Committee
This bill passed Senate Education Committee on June 17th (7-0).
2. Stated Need for This Bill
As explained in the Senate Education Committee analysis,
according to the author's office, "In recent years, there has
been an alarming increase in incidents of unreported child abuse
where one or more additional schools employees were aware of the
incident-illustrating gaping holes in these mandated reporters'
knowledge of the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act. Despite
the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act's clear reporting
requirements, school districts are merely encouraged rather than
required to provide employees who qualify as mandated reporters
with training on either abuse identification or abuse reporting.
The absence of training is a failure of our system that leaves
millions of students at risk every single day."
Proponents of the bill submit that school employees are not
always aware of their duty to report incidents of child abuse
and neglect or are unsure of the proper procedures for making
reports. Additionally, recent incidents have highlighted the
lack of training of educators in their role as a mandated
reporter. In either case, this could lead to incidents of
unreported child abuse by school employees. To address these
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issues, several pieces of legislation have recently been
introduced to take extra steps deemed necessary to ensure that
children are better protected.
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3. Related Measures
AB 1432 and AB 135 (Buchanan) each seek to accomplish similar
objectives to strengthen the CANRA and ultimately increase
student safety in schools. Specifically, AB 135 requires LEAs
to adopt policies and provide employees with regular reminders
of their responsibilities as mandated reporters. This measure
takes a more expansive approach by requiring LEAs to annually
train their employees, which they are already strongly
encouraged to do so under the CANRA. The two measures (as
currently drafted) would not have chaptering issues if both were
signed into law. However, it is not clear that both measures
are necessary due to the similarities of the objectives they are
seeking to achieve. AB 135 is currently pending in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
There is another pending measure that proposes statutory changes
regarding the CANRA-AB 2560 (Bonilla). This measure would
require a teacher credentialing applicant to read and sign a
statement regarding his or her role as a mandated reporter, and
is pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
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